
Not ready 4 this.
"Great fun and easy to play for all the family!" shouts the back of the box. Well, no. Like altogether too many third-party Wii games, the only way in which Ready 2 Rumble Revolution is accessible is that everyone - no matter their age, gaming aptitude, IQ or marketing profile - will find it equally unwieldy, complex, unpredictable and annoying to use.
Ready 2 Rumble Revolution spruces up Midway's 1999 featherweight champ Ready 2 Rumble Boxing, only under an Atari banner this time. Not a bad idea in theory. Ready 2 Rumble was a lively boxing game that channelled the punch-drunk cartoon characters of Nintendo's Punch-Out!! (also due a Wii remake soon) in a more conventional two-player beat-'em-up. It swaggered, japed and hollered its way into the hearts of many, especially in a crisp Dreamcast version, and not without reason.
Actually, it's 2000's Ready 2 Rumble Boxing Round 2 that's the direct inspiration here. That game famously featured Bill and Hilary Clinton as unlockable characters, along with once-great pop freak no-I-didn't-get-tickets Michael Jackson, and rhyming basketball giant Shaquille O'Neal. Revolution takes this idea and runs with it, adding a whole rogues' gallery of unendorsed, caricatured "slebs" under pseudonyms. Naturally, it updates the idea. To round about 2001.